| KALEB

I screamed as hot tears began pouring from my eyes. Pain flared up my leg and I clenched my eyes shut, gasps and labored pants flowing through my lips.

Zev growled fiercely, letting go of Josh's neck as he turned his face toward me. Recognition seemed to seep into his eyes, as well as concern. Not even a second later he is at my side staring down at my injury. I could tell that he was more tiger than man and i couldnt help but wonder how long he'd allowed his tiger to have control. He pulled his lips back into a snarl as he looked at me with an accusatory gaze. He growled baring his large fangs in my face, all but snapping his jaws at me, as if to say, why the fuck would you do that? I just smiled at him weakly, the damage was done and the wound was already beginning to heal itself.

"Apologize." I said pointedly. Zev gave me a flat look but huffed in defeat when I raised my eyebrow at him. He looked at Josh, and now that he was a little more himself, he looked a little apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't exactly in control." Josh just nodded, softly.

"Can't say I didn't deserve it."

"I can." I growled out a little annoyed before returning my attention to my mate.

Zev's emerald eyes stared at the chain and bar that bound me in anger. Taking my wrists in his large hands, he managed to pry them both open with ease. My wrist were red and marked where the cuff had dug too deep. The sight of them caused Zev to growl before pulling them up to his face and kissing them gently. The familiar sparks that flared at the contact were a comfort, they let me know that my mate really was here and not another cruel dream.

"Zev," I breathed as relief flooded through me for the first time in what felt like ages. My mate released a deep chuff in response, a large hand reaching to gently grip my chin. Delicately, he pulled my face up, placing his lips over mine. Through the kiss we poured out all our worry and anxiety from the past few days as well as the raw happiness from being in each other's arms again. Pulling away, he looked me over properly only stopping once he was satisfied with his examination. I'd completely forgotten about Josh who looked at us with a little bit of sadness in his eyes. My heart clenched.

Before I could offer any words of comfort, Darren burst through the entryway his dark eyes scanning the room until they came to rest upon Josh. His relief was visible as some of the tenseness in his shoulders relaxed.

Darren closed the distance between them before he kneeled in front of his beta as concern filled his gaze. Their eyes locked and I could tell that they were speaking through their link. With a shaking hand Darren reached out to gently caress Josh's bruised cheek, anger filling his eyes. Josh gave a small smile, but it was hard to tell with all the swelling and blood on his face.

"Hey, bro." He groaned weakly. "Long time no see," he chuckled but gasped from the pain it caused.

Darren growled lightly, brushing his dark hair out of his face.

"You... I thought-" he swallowed thickly. "I thought you'd betrayed us...me" he whispered softly. Josh's eyes filled with emotion.

"I would never betray you, you're my alpha. Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to, you're... I-"

"You're my mate." Darren said in realization. He growled again, "how long did you know?" Josh looked away.

"Three weeks... well four, technically."

Darren's face fell. "Why didn't you tell me? How did you hide it from me?" You could hear the hurt in his voice. "Were you... rejecting me."

" No! Yes-I didn't think-"

"That's obvious," Darren growled out "Now, explain why you went through the trouble of hiding the fact that we are mates." Josh's eyes flicked to his and you could see the vulnerability in them as well as the pain.

"I hid my scent, I learned how to do it from the pack healer. Goddess, I was an asshole Darren, I don't even know why you decided to be friends with me in the first place. I had a short fuse and we both know it, not beta material at all. And as a mate? I didn't want to take on another role I knew I couldn't fill properly. The way I treated Kaleb..." he sent me an apologetic look. I don't deserve to be forgiven. I deserved this." He said brokenly, pulling at the chains that held his wrists against the wall above his head. "You deserve better than me."

"That's not for you to decide." Darren said evenly. "You are mine and I don't want anyone else." Darren leaned in to kiss Josh but he turned away.

"Please, don't," Josh whispered "I... He ruined me, I'm not-" Darren sighed resting his forehead against his mate's.

"I still want you. I'll always want you. You're my mate, how could I not?"

"But -" Josh began to protest before Darren cut him off.

"I've already lost the two most important people in my life, I can't lose you too." Josh bit his lip. His blue orbs finally filling with hope.

"I'm so sorry Darren," The young alpha growled.

"You're not forgiven," he said, causing Josh's face to fall "Yet. When we get back I'm gonna tie you to my bed and-" his words cut off as he whispered the rest in his mate's ear. What ever he said caused Josh face to turn beet red, along with his neck and ears as a shaky breath escaped him. "I'll never let you run away again." Darren finished.

"Or walk again." Josh mumbled as the blush slowly receded from his face.

Darren chuckled. "That too." Josh rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Alpha, can you help me out of these?" he asked jiggling his chain. Darren set about breaking his mate's bonds in a similar fashion as Zev had mine.

"Let's go." he said, standing up and pulling his mate with him. They were still roughly the same height with Josh only being a tab bit shorter but not by much. You could tell that the beta had lost a little weight. He leaned heavily on his alpha who held him upright with ease.

Zev scooped me up and I could tell by his grip that I wasn't going to be touching the ground again anytime soon. "Where's Jared?" I asked cautiously. This all seemed too easy. Darren and Zev growled simultaneously at the sound of the name.

"I don't know," Darren said. "but when I find him I'm going to rip him apart." Josh looked at him a little worriedly, his brows pinched together.

"Darren-" he began but was cut off by his mate.

"Josh." his tone held no room for argument. They stared at each other for a while before the beta sighed, almost in defeat. His eyes closed wearily as he leaned further into his mate's body. Darren's grip on him tightened.

"Can you walk?" he asked, his voice latent with concern. Josh gave a tired nod.

"Not for long." Darren stifled a growl, pulling Josh impossibility closer, before shuffling across the room towards the door. Zev began walking behind them but stopped short of the door so that I was unable to see out of it.

Close your eyes. he said. I did. Whatever was out there he clearly didn't want me to see. I felt it as we began moving again.

I buried my face in Zev's neck, not caring about the blood that lay there, gently nuzzling his mark. I didn't know where we were going but, now that Zev was here I didn't care.

I love you.

I love you too, Kaleb. His hold on me tightened and I felt him bury his face in my hair, taking in a whiff of my scent.

After a few minutes the movement of Zev's body lulled me into a light sleep. The best I'd had in days. Unfortunately, it was short lived as Zev came to a stop, calling my name to rouse me from my nap. I blinked bleary eyed as I took in our surroundings.

They'd picked a spot that wasn't too densely packed by trees and shrubbery to stop. There were a total of twenty enforcers there as well, all bloodied but for the most part whole and uninjured. They all gave me warm smiles which I returned sleepily.

"It's going to take us the better part of a week to meet up with the rest of the pack at the safe house. We'll rest here for a while, we'll leave early in the morning." Darren announced, sounding every bit the Alpha that he was, "There is a stream nearby. Let's all go wash up." There was a collective sigh of relief as the group of wolves began heading in that direction. Then he turned toward his mate who was leaning against a tree. Josh's eyes lit up in a way I'd never seen them before as he took in his mate. Darren wrapped an arm around his waist pulling him flush against him. "Do you need me to carry you?" he asked.

Josh shook his head.

"I can manage." Together they walked toward the stream, which was not far off if my hearing was correct. Zev followed closely behind. As I suspected, the stream wasn't far. Zev walked a ways away from the cleansing males before wading into the cool waters. He set me down and I immediately set about splashing my face and relieving my thirst. Zev did the same, before washing the blood from his skin.

"Zev," I called once the need to touch him again overruled everything else, his eyes immediately snapped to mine. I held out my arms and he picked me up, allowing me to wrap my legs around his waist. His hands settled on my ass as I leaned up for a kiss.

Zev's lips were urgent yet soft. He left my mouth to trail them down the column of my throat before landing on my mark. He gave the sensitive skin there a kiss before pulling away. As usual, he left me breathless and disoriented. "I missed you, little one." he said gruffly. With a soft smile I reached up to peck his lips once more.

"I'm glad you found me." I said.

"I promised to always come back to you, didn't I?" he said softly, brushing a black curl from my face. I blushed as our lips met again.

I don't know how long we spent kissing before we finally pulled away from each other. The sun had gone down significantly and we decided to head back. He carried me back to the tiny clearing where we found every one in their second form laying down. The largest amongst them was Darren's impressive chocolate wolf whose head rested over Josh's grey one that came in at a close second. His large head swung in our direction, taking in our approach before he turned back to his mate and began grooming him lovingly.

It took everything in me not to aww. Zev found a relatively clear spot before setting me down and shifting. It felt like forever since the last time I'd seen his his tiger so I was unable to fight the urge to bury my face in his furry neck as I stood on my tip toes. Zev let out a deep chuff.

After a moment I backed away and took off Zev's shirt that I still had on before shifting myself. The large tiger layed down allowing me to snuggle up next to him. A large striped forearm was layed across my back as he practically encased my much smaller body with his.

Before I was swept away in the sea of dreams I sent a silent prayer to the moon goddess, thanking her for reuniting me with my mate. But the feeling of unease still lingered. Jared was still at large and I didn't know what was to come, but at least I was with the man I loved and safe.

With that last thought, I let the bliss of sleep take me yet again.

Chapter 25 will be uploaded probably sometime towards the end of the week hopefully.

How do you guys feel about Josh and Darren? Are you glad Zev and Kaleb are together again. Any predictions for future chapters? Please leave your thoughts in the comments, I really enjoy reading them!

J.T.

I know I have a few (okay, A LOT) of spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the the book, but I will be editing The Tiger's Omega once it is finished to fix them all (possibly revising some chapters all together but we will cross that bridge when we get there) so any